Summer's wrath is kinder than people's wrath!

Today, I went in search for a 12V pump for my electric cooler which has breathed its last yesterday evening. Once I got it, I frantically assembled it on my own. After all, that’s the minimum that’s expected of a finishing engineer.

Nagpur's 42 degree Celsius makes you want to take things under control rather than let someone do it for you. Seriously, without a hat, sunglasses & some suntan lotion, it's almost like going to war with the Sun God.

Yep!! The great Indian summer is here and it's here to release it full wrath on people of Nagpur..

After my successful tryst with my cooler, I went to a small restaurant called Indian Coffee House that serves excellent egg curry with Indian bread. I reached a cozy corner table and heaved a sigh of relief. Mostly because, the ten minutes drive to this place after the engineering success, sapped me off all my reserve energy.

I couldn't help but lick my plate off its contents within no time.

Moments into finishing off my Ice Tea, a small beggar boy appeared out of nowhere and started begging outside the restaurant's door. He had a plate that seemed to have been used for generations. I knew he was not looking for money because he was looking at the people eat there. He then looked at the manager, who of course was keeping a stern eye on the boy as the boy begged him to give some water. The manager blatantly refused.

Almost like magic the boy looked straight to me out of the thirty odd people sitting in the restaurant and begged me for the water kept on my table.

I beckoned him. He refused. Naturally, he was too scared to even enter the restaurant.

I signaled him and assured him that I'd give him the water. As he drew nearer, I asked for the biggest jug and emptied its contents into the boy's plate. He drank it on the way out, but the manager's aide pushed him out with such gusto that it made me want to give the aide a piece of my mind.

The aide then approached me and said something that shocked me. He said "Sir, Giving these people water is not the issue, the issue is that they come everyday and stand in front of the door and ogle at our patrons, who in turn reprimand us for not taking immediate action."

My mind caught just two words. “These people”.

How cruel are we humans, that we look down upon our own kind?

I was shocked over the aide's reply about how his patrons get upset seeing a poor boy watch them eat, rather than help the boy out.

I came out of the restaurant to see the boy sitting on the pavement. His parched feet lying uneasily on the road, which by the way, was reflecting all of the 42 degrees C of heat. When he saw me, he commented "Sir, please give me something to eat, I'm very hungry."

I'd rather not encourage begging, but this little boy of age 7-8 seemed so helpless.

I fished into my wallet and gave the boy a fifty rupees note. It looked like he'd never seen an amount like that, because his eyes were shining brighter than the sun's rays. I also went and bought him a bottle of water to quench his thirst.

As I was driving back, I realized that it was people's cold and indifferent attitude that made the boy's life seem miserable. Not the great Indian summer.